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GS1 GDSN Community Update May 2012

Over nine million items in GS1 Global Registry

I believe so strongly in the importance of globally accessible and shareable data, and one reason is because time and again, I have had users tell me about how the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network has helped their company to reduce errors, eliminate unnecessary costs, and enhance their work with their partners across the supply chain. Having the ability to publish data just once and then share it as many times as needed brings a range of significant impact and benefits.

So I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that the GS1 Global Registry now contains more than nine million registered items. The GS1 Global Registry is the GS1 GDSN’s facilitator and information directory. The more items in the GS1 Global Registry, the more information can be exchanged fluidly between companies.

I consider reaching the milestone figure of nine million registered items as important to reflect that an increasing number of trading partners see the value of the GS1 GDSN. In tandem, GS1 is working with users, data pools and solution providers to ensure that the data residing in the GS1 GDSN is of high quality in terms of being complete, accurate, consistent, timely, and standards-based. We are honored to play a small part in the efforts made by tens of thousands of companies to increase their efficiencies and lower their costs. Thank you for your confidence.

Sally A. Herbert
President GS1 Standards & System Development
President GS1 GDSN, Inc.

GS1 GDSN at the GS1 Global Healthcare conference in Sydney

The semi-annual Global GS1 Healthcare conferences bring together all related Healthcare supply chain stakeholders to advance the development and adoption of global standards in the Healthcare supply chain. Key stakeholders in the Healthcare supply chain are invited to participate, including representatives from (inter-)governmental bodies and regulators, Healthcare providers, pharmacists, manufacturers, distributors & wholesalers, logistics providers, industry associations and GS1 Member Organisations.

The most recent GS1 Healthcare conference was held in Sydney, Australia, March 20–22 2012 and the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network was prominently featured in trainings, presentations, expert sessions and panel discussions.

One Industry Experts Panel focused on “Right data for right products – how synchronised data supports supply chain and business efficiency”, a session during which suppliers who have successfully implemented data synchronisation shared their lessons learned and the practical benefits they are seeing. Another Industry Experts Panel convened on the theme of “Data as the key – understanding all the options for business improvement”.

Attendees heard Megan Main, Chief Executive of Health Purchasing Victoria, and her colleague Richard Bowen, Director of Information, present a case study of their experiences, which they called: “Implementation of GS1 GDSN in a Complex Systems Environment”.

Conference-goers also saw Jay Crowley, Senior Advisor for Patient Safety at the United States Food and Drug Administration, express his support for using GS1 Standards and the GS1 GDSN as key elements of their plan to meet the requirements for Unique Device Identification in the American Healthcare sector.

Download all of the presentations from the Sydney GS1 Healthcare conference at https://www.gs1.org/news-archive/2012

Save the date: The autumn 2012 GS1 Healthcare conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from October 23–25.

Improving data quality in Sweden with a dedicated service

GS1 Sweden runs a GS1 DSN-certified data pool called Validoo. Teams at Validoo and at GS1 Sweden’s user companies noticed that sometimes information on weights and measures didn’t always match reality, and this sort of faulty information was causing problems throughout the entire supply chain.

“If the technical information and the physical product don’t match, we make the wrong decisions”, says Ralf Lind, Business Developer at Coop Purchasing & Logistics. “This is something that often becomes apparent as early as transport to us. Either the goods don’t fit in the truck, or the truck is half-empty. Each situation is just as bad as the other.”

Even when the goods have been unloaded from trucks and moved into distribution centres, incorrect dimensions can cause big problems when the items are picked for shipment to the stores. Coop, for example, uses an automatic picking system. When one truck is filled, a signal is sent to the next truck to move up for loading. Incorrect measurements throw a spanner in the works right from the start.

Shops plan their shelves and the placement of items based on the product dimensions. Planning is conducted centrally for the retail chains through planograms. If dimensions are wrong, each individual shop has to make a number of time-consuming decisions to solve the problem.

A wish to prevent these sorts of time-and-money-wasting problems is what motivated GS1 Sweden to create a quality assurance service they called “Validoo Item”, a function that raises data quality by acting as a checkpoint between suppliers and trading partners, preventing faulty information from moving onward.

Andreas Millbourn, Sales Director at Kraft, a major supplier to Coop, affirms: “Without accurate data, it’s difficult to do business”. He adds: “And data will only become more important. You can see accurate data as a health issue – it is just something that has to be there. With effective data management, we boost in-house efficiency across the board and provide more value to our customers.”

For more information on GS1 Sweden’s Validoo GS1 GDSN-certified data pool and its services such as Validoo Item, please visit http://www.validoo.se/en/

Ten years of data synchronisation benefitting the French wine sector

As a country known for its wine, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that more than 70% of the total volume of wine sold by France’s top five retailers benefit from data synchronisation through the GS1 GDSN. Carrefour, for example, synchronised data on 98% of bottles of wine sold in 2011, and Auchan is targeting 100% data synchronisation for wine before the end of 2012.

This perfect pairing of wine and data synchronisation is, in great part, due to the nature of the wine business in France, where most vineyards sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers. In a complex supply chain like this, and one with so many participants, the benefits of having a vast amount of product information available in one single, clear and easily accessible depository like the GS1 GDSN were quickly obvious.

A second benefit of the GS1 GDSN stems from the way the French wine business depends upon annual in-store promotional “wine fairs” held by retailers, and in particular Carrefour and Auchan, creating a need for a reliable and efficient way to gather huge quantities of data about products sold in short periods of time.

Indeed, the business benefits of global data synchronisation to the wine sector are plentiful: better data management, improved reliability, faster time to market, measurable time savings and the availability of product information that helps retailers arrange their shelves, for example, by putting organically-grown wines together.

Bernard Guibert, Sales Director at Bordeaux wine negotiator Sovex Woltner, one of more than 2000 French companies connected to the GS1 GDSN, shares: “We update product records instantaneously, right from our information system”. Guibert adds, “Our data is more reliable and the process is much faster, allowing us to have a more optimised reactivity to our customers’ new orders”.

For more information on GS1 France and its GS1 GDSN-certified data pool Le Parangon, visit http://gs1.fr/index.php/gs1_fr/standards_gs1__1/synchronisation_informations_produits (in French)

Australian data pool puts trusted info at consumers’ fingertips

GS1 Australia’s GS1 GDSN-certified data pool GS1net will soon be launching an exciting and innovative new service called GS1 GoScan, an iPhone application enabling consumers to rapidly and easily access the trusted product information they need, delivered efficiently and conveniently via their mobile phone.

GS1 GoScan is GS1 Australia’s latest move in the Extended Labelling initiative. This initiative is led by GS1 Australia in partnership with major retailers, leading international food companies, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Australian Universities and national health organisations. It defines new data standards for communicating Extended Labelling product information to consumers, retailers, government agencies and other key stakeholders.

“Consumers now want more information about the products they purchase and the companies who produce them to enable them to make informed choices. Their purchase decisions are increasingly influenced by information beyond what is on the label”, said Mark Fuller, Chief Operating Officer of GS1 Australia.

Food and grocery brand owners supply GS1 GoScan data directly to GS1 Australia via the GS1net data pool. Product data undergoes validation checks, and brand owners are educated on how to maintain their data to ensure consumers always have access to the latest, most accurate product information.

Major Australian supermarket chains Coles, Metcash and Woolworths are calling on their suppliers to get behind this initiative and upload their Extended Labelling data into GS1net.

The GS1 GoScan iPhone app follows the successful rollout of GS1 Recallnet in 2011, an online portal for the management of product recall and withdrawal notifications.

For more information on GS1 Australia, its GS1 GDSN-certified data pool GS1net, and the GS1 GDSN-powered services such as GS1 Recallnet or GS1 GoScan, visit www.gs1au.org/services/goscan/gs1_goscan_iphone_application_overview.asp

Coming soon: GS1 GDSN Major Release

GS1 has reached a significant milestone as the GS1 GDSN Major Release project is starting to engage the user community. This Major Release of the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network will feature a new architecture that will enhance the user experience, increase flexibility, reduce complexity and boost system validation capabilities.

The release is the fruit of community work on more than 120 user-submitted change requests relating to the Trade Item, Price Sync and Catalogue Item Sync Standards, among others. It also incorporates the Modular Item Architecture, an important project on which we have been working for several years.

One key change to both the network and its associated business practices will be the introduction of context, which provides attribute usage customisation by industry. Context is an enabler for many efficiencies as well as the adoption of GS1 Standards in a more business-friendly way.

In brief: context defines the environment in which business information is used. The application of context is a structured way to classify business scenarios by industry and geography, using a specified set of categories and their associated values.

For example: trading partners sending a despatch advice in France for meat products would use the context “Sending Despatch Advice_Meat Products_France” – indicating the relevant process, product classification and geopolitical area for this situation.

Prepare yourself for this next Major Release by joining the community at General Mills, Golden Valley, Minnesota on July 10–12 2012! For more info, view the GS1 GDSN User Group Summer Meeting flyer or contact peter.alvarez@gs1.org

GS1 GDSN Healthcare Use Cases completed

We know from experience that local implementations of data synchronisation are based on local requirements – which are not always harmonised at a global level.

This lack of harmonisation increases implementation barriers for multinational organisations as they try to accommodate various data models. Too often, this leads to delays in adoption and implementation as well as added cost.

As an additional challenge for the Healthcare sector, regulators in North America and in the European Union are planning to introduce regulation for Unique [medical] Device Identification and will be developing separate databases with different data requirements.

The objective of the GS1 GDSN Healthcare Use Cases initiative is to enable the efficient exchange of accurate, complete and trusted product information across the entire Healthcare value chain. The exchange of information is facilitated by the use of the GS1 GDSN, its Certified data pools and the GS1 Global Registry, all of which combine to ensure that a customer’s and a regulator’s database is aligned and current with those of manufacturers.

The Use Cases will provide a common data model for the most common processes that require reliable product information. The goal is to improve key business processes and ultimately patient safety.

The GS1 GDSN in Healthcare Use Cases developed:

  • Tendering/Sourcing
  • Contracting
  • Procurement
  • Order and Invoice Reconciliation
  • Reimbursement Codes and GTINs
  • Regulated Product Formulations and Target Markets
  • Logistics
  • Logistics for Distribution Channel
  • Unique Device Identifier (UDI)

Download the GS1 GDSN Healthcare Use Cases document

Interview: How to avoid losing $1.5 million a year?

Dot Foods led by Dick Tracy, Executive Vice President of Foodservice, has been greatly involved in the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative and has been one of the first Foodservice companies to receive product information through the GS1 GDSN.

Tracy, recently elected to the Executive Leadership Committee of the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative, is also active in the International Foodservice Distributors Association and as a member of Dot’s board of directors.

In his opinion, the most beneficial part of adopting GS1 Standards is the cost-efficiency provided by the standardised industry data. “We know that bad item data obtained from manufacturers was costing our business at least $1.5 million every year”, Tracy shared, “When the case-dimensions, cube or weight information is off, it drives up costs for the entire supply chain, not just ours… We could not respond effectively to all of this until the industry got behind these standards”.

For more information, please visit http://smartblogs.com/food-and-beverage/2012/05/01/q-and-a-dot-foods-dick-tracy-on-adopting-gs1-us-standards/

GS1 US and GS1 Germany announce joint venture of Data Management Subsidiaries 1SYNC and SA2 Worldsync

1SYNC and SA2 Worldsync together provide product data synchronization services and solutions to more than 15,000 businesses, directly or indirectly, in more than 40 countries. The highly complementary organizations manage product data for more than 7 million items, allowing some of the world’s largest brand owners to share trusted product information with hundreds of trading partners via the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network.

“The new company will be more global, and provide better data services today while creating scale and a smoother path to meeting our industry’s requirements”, said Otmar Debald, Managing Director of Procter & Gamble Germany, who is also Chairman of the GS1 Germany Supervisory Board.

GS1 US and GS1 Germany plan to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2012.

For more information, please visit http://www.gs1us.org/about-gs1-us/media-center/news/1sync-and-sa2-worldsync

Upcoming events

One of the best ways to learn about the benefits your business can obtain from using GS1 Standards such as the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network is to speak with other users. A variety of upcoming industry events present that opportunity:

WCO IT Conference & Exhibition 2012
Date: 6–8 June 2012
Tallinn, Estonia

Electronic Catalogs and Product Master Data Conference
Date: 12 June 2012
Paris, France

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Global Summit 2012
Date: 20–22 June 2012
Istanbul, Turkey

Preparing for the next Major Release in the GDSN
A three day meeting to prepare the community through the following working sessions: Making the Business Case, Change Management and Pilot Preparation.
Date: 10–12 July 2012
Minnesota, USA